Method, apparatus and system for initiating conference call using calendar events

ABSTRACT

An email client method and server that allow a conference organizer to schedule a conference (e.g., conference call) using a calendar feature found in today&#39;s email applications. When the email client is installed to work with the user&#39;s email application, an option becomes available to allow access to a conferencing scheduling feature. The server is adapted to receive an incoming conference request via a data message (e.g., email message) and coordinate acceptances to the request. At the time of the conference, the server retrieves a list of conference participants/attendees and their contact information. The server determines whether or not each participant/attendee is a server participant. If the participant/attendee is a server participant, the server will initiate the conference by calling the multiple contact numbers associated with the participant/attendee. Otherwise, the server will call one contact number associated with the participant/attendee.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/036,562, entitled “Method, Apparatus and System for InitiatingConference Call Using Calendar Events,” filed on Feb. 25, 2008, whichclaims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 60/891,780, filed onFeb. 27, 2007, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patentdocument or patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightswhatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has become relatively common for individuals to possess a number ofdifferent devices through which they communicate. For example, a personmay have a home telephone, a wireless telephone, a pager, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), and an office telephone to name a few. As thepopulation becomes increasingly mobile, making contact with a personthrough one of these communication devices has become more difficult.

Call forwarding is one method of addressing this problem. Certaintelephone systems allow users to enter another number to which a voicecall is forwarded if not answered by a specified number of rings. Thisshould allow an individual with multiple telephone devices to forwardthe call to such devices until the telephone at which the individual islocated finally rings. However, if several telephones are involved, thisapproach becomes complicated. Moreover, it requires the calling party toremain on the line for a significant period of time if the call is to beforwarded multiple times. Furthermore, it is necessary that callforwarding capabilities exist on each of the individual's telephones. Inaddition, this approach requires that all telephones involved bereprogrammed each time an individual desires to initiate callforwarding.

A significant drawback to this forwarding strategy is that, in each legof the forwarded call, the calling party is terminated on the lastdevice or network in the chain. It follows that the final number in theforwarding scheme is responsible for all available enhanced services orvoicemail available to the caller. Accordingly, although a call may havebeen initially placed to an office telephone equipped with voicemailand/or operator assist, all such enhanced services of the corporatenetwork are lost once the call is forwarded off the corporate PBX (e.g.,to the user's wireless telephone).

Travel can exacerbate the difficulty of establishing communication witha team of individuals because of the lack of communication options.Unfortunately, this forces a calling party to decide which person fromamongst a team to contact and in which order to do so.

The office telephone is the primary point of contact of most businesspeople and most business features. Typically, corporations investsignificantly in their office telephone infrastructure, which oftenincludes voicemail, paging, unified messaging systems and conferencecalling. In addition, most corporations have negotiated contracts withtheir telephone carriers (e.g., local and long distance carriers) toensure that they obtain the lowest possible rates for calls placed viatheir corporate network. However, because the corporate workforce isbecoming increasingly mobile, more business people are using wirelesstelephones or devices to conduct their business when they are out of theoffice. This has resulted in corporations spending a larger portion oftheir telecommunications budget on wireless communications, with farless favorable negotiated rates than the rates of their corporatenetwork. In addition, wireless communication systems often lack theenhanced conveniences (e.g., interoffice voicemail, direct extensiondialing, etc.) that corporate users have come to expect in the officeenvironment.

Another valuable feature allowing people in different locations tocommunicate with each other is a conference call (also referred to as ateleconference). A conference call allows multiple participants to bepresent on a single call regardless of their locations. To arrange aconference call, a user typically must acquire a call-in conferencenumber from a conferencing service, schedule a time for the conference,obtain a password or number for the conference and send thepassword/number to all invitees. All invitees are required to call thecall-in number at the appropriate time and provide the password/numberto initiate/join the conference call. Using this typical technique,however, could take a long period of time for all invitees to join thecall, which may delay the start of the call. This technique alsorequires some logistics to arrange the call and may become burdensome ifadditional information must be forwarded to the invitees. Thus, anothermethod for arranging a conference is desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a telecommunication system constructedin accordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates a server unit in accordance with an embodimentdisclosed herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a server unit in accordance with another embodimentdisclosed herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates a processor module in accordance with an embodimentdisclosed herein.

FIG. 5A illustrates another telecommunication system constructed inaccordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example page allowing a user to associate aplurality of devices to a single extension in accordance with anembodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 6A shows line flow diagrams illustrating an example of theoperations performed by embodiments described herein.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of notification of a conference requestand user options displayable on an invitee's in accordance with anembodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of an incoming call notification and useroptions displayable on a remote device.

FIG. 6D is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operationsperformed by embodiments described herein.

FIGS. 7A-7I illustrate several example screen shots in accordance withexample embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile device constructed inaccordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication subsystemcomponent of the mobile device in accordance with an embodimentdisclosed herein.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary node of a wireless network inaccordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of a host system inone exemplary configuration for use with the wireless network of FIG. 10and the mobile device of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Example embodiments and applications will now be described. Otherembodiments may be realized and structural or logical changes may bemade to the disclosed embodiments. Although the embodiments disclosedherein have been particularly described as applied to a business oroffice environment, it should be readily apparent that the embodimentsmay be embodied for any use or application having the same or similarproblems.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a telecommunication system thatcan selectively establish communications with one of a plurality oftelephony devices associated with a particular telephone number.Moreover, the system allows remote devices to perform as a functionalstandard office telephone for both inbound and outbound communications.The system also has a processor configured to send a data signal viaelectronic mail (email), text messaging, or other forms of datacommunications to one or more remote devices without any userinteraction. The data signal causes a processor and a remote device toexecute a series of steps designed to route incoming and outgoing callsbased on user preferences and perform PBX functions from the remotedevice.

Other embodiments disclosed herein relate to an email client method andserver that allow a conference organizer to schedule a conference (e.g.,conference call) using a calendar feature found in most of today's emailapplications (e.g., Microsoft® Office Outlook®, IBM® Lotus Notes®,etc.). When a novel email client (disclosed herein) is installed to workwith the user's email application, an option becomes available on theemail appointment window toolbar that allows the appointment feature tobe designated as a conference. The server disclosed herein is adapted toreceive an incoming conference request via a data message (e.g., emailmessage). The server coordinates acceptances to the request. At the timeof the conference, the server retrieves a list of conferenceparticipants/attendees (i.e., invitees and/or the organizer) and theircontact information. Once the server has identified allparticipants/attendees, the server determines whether or not eachparticipant/attendee is a server participant (i.e., if the participanthas a user profile registered with the server or its system). If theparticipant/attendee is a server participant, the server will initiatethe conference by calling the multiple contact numbers associated withthe participant/attendee. If the participant/attendee is not a serverparticipant, the server will call one contact number associated with theparticipant/attendee. That is, in one embodiment, the server disclosedherein places calls to the call participants/attendees when it is timeto start the conference and then connects the calls together to form theconference.

A first example embodiment is discussed and illustrated with referenceto its implementation within an office building, multiple officebuildings or other enterprise establishment. In an office building, forexample, personnel are assigned to offices (or cubicles) with eachoffice having an associated telephone. The office telephones aretypically connected to a PBX, exchange, or other call processinginfrastructure. The PBX allows each office telephone to have its owntelephone extension and a direct inward dial (DID) telephone number. Asknown in the art, a telephone extension is typically a three, four orfive digit telephone number where station-to-station (i.e.,office-to-office) calls can be placed by dialing the three, four or fivedigit extension. This is commonly referred to as direct extensiondialing. As also known in the art, a DID telephone number allowsexternal calls (i.e., calls initiated outside of the office PBX) to beplaced directly to the office telephone.

The embodiments disclosed are not to be limited to any particularenvironment. The embodiments may be implemented, for example, in ahotel, boarding house, dormitory, apartment, or other commercial orresidential establishment, where individuals are assigned to a uniqueextension or DID telephone number. The term “office” as used hereinencompasses a singular room or space within a business, otherenterprise, hotel room or similar facility. The term “user” as usedherein encompasses office personnel, hotel guests or other individualsassociated with a telephone extension and DID telephone number.

FIG. 1 illustrates a telecommunication system 10 constructed inaccordance with an embodiment disclosed herein. As will be discussedbelow, the system 10 provides for a full integration of remote telephonydevices, such as a remote device 70 (shown in this example as a personaldigital assistant (PDA) with wireless voice and data communications(also referred to herein as a mobile device)), into an office,enterprise or hotel PBX or other communications network. The remotedevice 70 may be any suitable wirelessly enabled handheld remote device.The remote device 70 may be a dual mode (simultaneous data and voicecommunication capabilities) or single mode communication device,personal digital assistant, etc. such as the device 800 described infurther detail below in relation to FIG. 8. Such devices includeBlackberry™ devices by Research In Motion Limited of Ontario, Canada, orPalm® Treo™ devices by Palm, Inc. of California, U.S.A. to name a few.In addition, the remote device 70 may be a cellular telephone, etc.

The system 10 can selectively establish communications with one of aplurality of devices associated with a particular telephone extension orDID telephone number. Moreover, the system 10 will allow remote devices70 such as a mobile device (described below in more detail) to performas a fully functional standard office telephone 12 a, 12 b for bothinbound and outbound communications. That is, a remote device 70 will beable to use features of the office network (e.g., direct extensiondialing, corporate dialing plan, enterprise voicemail etc.) even thoughthe device is not within the confines of the office or not directlyconnected to the office PBX. The system 10 also allows the remote device70 to operate as an independent PDA, wireless telephone, etc. if sodesired. That is, the remote device 70 may receive calls placed to its(non-office) DID telephone number even though the system 10 also routesPBX calls to the device 70. In addition, the system 10 essentiallyimplements all or part of call management functions typically availableon office, enterprise or hotel PBX or other communications networkdesktop telephone. Some of these features are discussed in detail below.

The system 10 as particularly illustrated herein includes a conventionaloffice PBX network 11. The PBX network 11 may include a plurality ofstandard telephones 12 a, 12 b respectively connected to a conventionalPBX/IP-PBX 14 via communication lines 18 a, 18 b. Although PBX network11 may use a PBX or IP-PBX 14, the following disclosure will simplyrefer to PBX 14 for convenience purposes. The PBX 14 is connected to acalling network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 16 bya primary rate interface (PRI) connection 20 or other suitablecommunication line or medium. The standard telephones 12 a, 12 b can beany digital or analog telephone or other communication device known inthe art. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the first telephone 12 a is a digitaltelephone while the second telephone 12 b is an analog telephone. Forclarity purposes only, two telephones 12 a, 12 b are illustrated in FIG.1, but it should be appreciated that any number or combination oftelephones or other communication devices can be supported by the system10. Moreover, although it is desirable to use digital telephones, theinvention is not to be limited to the particular type of telephone usedin the system 10.

The PBX 14 is coupled to a server 30 constructed in accordance with anembodiment discussed in more detail below. The server 30 is connected tothe PBX 14 in this embodiment by a PRI connection 22, VoIP connection 24(if PBX 14 is an IP-PBX), or other suitable communication medium (e.g.,WiFi connection). The server 30 is also connected to a PSTN 54 by a PRIconnection or other suitable digital communication medium. Theillustrated PRI connection between the server 30 and the PSTN 54includes a first PRI connection 32, a channel service unit (CSU) 34, anda second PRI connection 36. As known in the art, a CSU is a mechanismfor connecting a computer (or other device) to a digital medium thatallows a customer to utilize their own equipment to retime andregenerate incoming signals. It should be appreciated that theillustrated connection between the server 30 and the PSTN 54 is one ofmany suitable connections. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed shouldnot be limited to the illustrated connection. The server 30 is one ofthe mechanisms that allows the integration of remote devices (e.g.,mobile device 70) into the PBX network 11 and its operation will bedescribed below in more detail. Moreover the server 30 maintains controlover inbound, outgoing and in-progress calls and communications.

The server 30 is preferably connected to a local area network (LAN) 40by an appropriate communication medium 38. Although a LAN 40 isillustrated, it should be appreciated that any other network could beused. A plurality of computers (e.g., 42 a, 42 b) may be respectivelyconnected to the LAN 40 by any appropriate communication lines 44 a, 44b. The computers 42 a, 42 b can be used by network administrators orothers to maintain server 30 and other portions of the system 10. TheLAN 40 may also be connected to the Internet 50 by a suitablecommunication medium 48. A firewall 46 may be used for securitypurposes. In accordance with an embodiment, Internet 50 can be used toallow a remote administration device 52 (e.g., a personal computer) toperform remote administration of server 30 by office personnel or otherauthorized users of the system 10. Remote administration will allowoffice personnel to set user preferences for particular telephoneextensions. Thus, each office telephone extension and associated remotedevice is individually configurable.

PSTN 54 is connected in this embodiment to a commercial wireless carrier(or other carrier not co-located with the system 10) by a wirelessswitch 58 or other wireless carrier equipment by an appropriatecommunication medium 56. The wireless switch 58 is connected to at leastone antenna 60 (by an appropriate communication medium 62) fortransmitting signals 64 to a wireless remote device 70. The wirelessremote device 70 could also be a pager, wireless telephone, cellulartelephone, or other wireless communication device. It may be desirablefor the remote device 70 to be capable of handling both (or either)digital and analog communication signals. It should be noted that anytype of wireless communication protocol (or a combination of differentprotocols), such as TDMA, CDMA, GSM, AMPS, MSR, iDEN, WAP, WiFi, etc.,could be used.

It should be appreciated that the server 30 is connected to a wirelesscarrier through a PSTN 54 and not by unique hardware or an in-officecellular network. As a result, server 30 only has to interface withconventional components, such as the PBX 14 and PSTN 54. Thus, thesystem 10 is substantially technology independent. Moreover, specialwireless devices are not required, which allows the remote device 70 tofunction in its conventional manner (e.g., as a separate mobile device)and as part of the PBX network 11 (if so desired).

The server 30 and the PBX 14 may also be connected to anaccounting/billing system 80. The billing system 80 may also beconnected to the LAN 40 so that system administrators may access thecontents of the billing system 80. By incorporating a billing system 80into the system 10, it is possible to obtain immediate billinginformation for calls placed to/from the remote device 70 or otherremote device. This immediate billing feature is not present in otherPBX or enterprise networks and is particularly useful for corporateenvironments such as law films and government agencies, and hotelenvironments, where up to date billing information is essential.

As noted above, the server 30 allows for the full integration of remotedevices into the PBX network 11. In accordance with an embodiment,server 30 is a processor-based stand-alone unit capable of handlingcommunications directed to the PBX network 11. In a first embodiment,shown in FIG. 2, server 30 comprises a plurality of receiving andtransmitting modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 c, first and second buses 275,285, at least one processor module (Obj) 250, a network interface card240 and a memory module operable to comprise a database 270 such as forexample, a relational database management system (RDBMS). Further,server 30 can include a web-based user interface (UI) processor module265, a SIP proxy server module 280 and a plurality of flop files 290 a,290 b, 290 c. The processor, UI and SIP proxy server modules 250, 265,280 are processor cards (example hardware components of these cards aredescribed below in more detail with reference to FIG. 4) containingsource code, object modules, scripts, or other programming to performthe following functions.

The SIP proxy server module 280 receives session initiation protocol(SIP) messages from user agents and acts on their behalf in forwardingor responding to those messages. In essence, the SIP proxy server module280 is a gateway for IP-based interfaces to the server 30. The SIP proxyserver module 280 also adds services, features and scalability to SIPnetworks. The SIP proxy server module 280 typically includes aregistration service and a SIP location database, in addition to the SIPproxy. Server 30 can receive an incoming call 210 and/or place anoutgoing call 215 (described below in more detail). The processor module250, among other things, directs and instructs the call processing ofthe server 30. The memory module comprising database 270 is used forstoring user preferences and other pertinent information and may be aseparate card or included within one of the other modules. The memorymodule may also be located external to the server 30, if desired, andconnected to the server 30 by any wired or wireless communicationmedium.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example processor card 400, which may be used forthe processor, UI and SIP proxy server modules 250, 265, 280. The card400 includes a processor 460 for executing the processes of processormodule 250 (or the other modules) that communicates with various otherdevices of the card 400 over a bus 450. These devices may include randomaccess memory (RAM) 420, read-only memory (ROM) 430 and non-volatilememory 440. An input/output device (I/O) 410 provides communication intoand out of the card 400. While one input/output device 410 is shown,there may be multiple I/O devices included on the card as desired.Source code, or other programming, comprising applications required byor performed by the components of the server 30 may be stored on one ofthe computer readable storage media on the card 400 (e.g., ROM 430,non-volatile memory 440) and executed by the processor 460.

The processor module 250 executes one or more computer programs orapplications (Obj) stored in one or more memory units within (e.g., asshown in FIG. 4) or coupled to the processor module 250. Processormodule 250 can include one or more processes such as a modified VxML 260call flow process, business logic process 255, call service function(CSF) process 245, and a global application processing interface (API)process 235. It should be appreciated that processor module 250 caninclude one, all, or any combination of the processes described. Theprocessor module 250 may also contain one or more additional databasesand/or other processing memory used during the overall operation ofsystem 10.

In one embodiment, the business logic process 255 can be used fordetermining whether or not a calling party (incoming or outgoing) is aparticipant of the server 30 network and allows the server 30 to beflexibly configured by providing routing plans and route translations,IVR prompting and announcements, data manipulation, management andcontrol. In another embodiment, the business logic 255 provides anintelligent call routing function (described below in more detail). TheUI module 265 includes processes that provide an easy, but powerful,user interface to administer, configure and manage applicationsincluding the management of system, user, conference, notification, IVRand voicemail applications, to name a few.

The plurality of receiving and transmitting modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 ccommunicate with and handle incoming and outgoing telephone calls andare connected along bus 285. In one embodiment, bus 285 is an H100 orsimilar bus. The receiving and transmitting modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 cmay be telephonic cards such as e.g., Intel Dialogic cards, thatcommunicate with processor module 250, database 270 and other componentsvia bus 275 (for example, a PCI bus), which is bridged to bus 285(bridge not shown), and are employed to receive and transmit informationto the PBX 14 and PSTN 54 during call processing. The modules 220 a, 220b, 220 c also receive and transmit other information such asadministrative information. In another embodiment as shown in FIG. 3,the receiving and transmitting modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 c can also beimplemented as a processor module 320 such as e.g., a Host MediaProcessing (HMP) processor having a memory 330 comprising a programthat, when executed, causes the processor 320 to perform the desiredtelephony functions.

In one embodiment, the workload performed by the receiving andtransmitting modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 c, as well as some of theprocessing functions of processor module 250, are implemented using oneor more conventional processor-based programmable telephony interfacecircuit cards (e.g., Intel Dialogic cards) used to interface server 30with PBX 14 and the PSTN. The cards are programmed to perform theconventional telephony services required to place and receive calls, aswell as being programmed to perform the unique call processing functionsdescribed below.

The server 30 preferably contains a database of office extension numbers(also referred to herein as PBX extensions) and DID telephone numbersassociated with each existing PBX extension. The database will be storedon a computer readable storage medium, which may be part of (e.g.,database 270) or connected to the server 30. The database may alsocontain a server-to-PBX extension (hereinafter referred to as a“SERVER-PBX extension”) and one or more remote device telephone numbersassociated with each PBX extension. In the illustrated embodiment,software running on the telephony modules 220 a, 220 b, 220 c interfaceswith the database to perform the various call processing functionsdiscussed below.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the PBX 14 contains acoordinated dialing plan (CDP) steering table. The CDP steering tablewill be stored and retrieved from a computer readable storage medium,which may be part of or connected to the PBX 14. The CDP steering tabledirects the routing of some or all PBX extensions to the server 30 overthe PRI 22 and VoIP 24 connections between the server 30 and the PBX 14.In addition, the CDP steering table of the PBX 14 directs the routing ofall SERVER-PBX extensions received from the server 30 to the appropriateoffice telephone.

FIG. 5A illustrates another example of a telecommunication system 10 aconstructed in accordance with another embodiment. System 10 a comprisesPBX 14, which is connected to server 30, including processor module 250and database 270, via a PRI connection 230. As stated above, PBX 14could also be an IP-PBX and thus, there can also be a VoIP connectionbetween the server and PBX 14. There can also be a wireless connection(e.g., WiFi) if desired. Server 30 also includes components from FIG. 2or 3 as desired, but the components are not illustrated for conveniencepurposes. The server 30 is connected to remote device 70 via a hostsystem 480, network 1024 and wireless network (WDN) 850 (all of whichare described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 10 and 11). Itshould be appreciated that the communications between the server 30,host system 480 and remote device 70 may be encrypted to render theinformation in the communications (i.e., telephone numbers, user loginidentifications, system information and settings, etc.) indecipherableto the public. Although the use of encryption is desirable, the decisionof whether encryption is to be used may be left up to the end user orsystem administrator of the remote device 70, host system 480 and/orserver 30. The host system 480 can include a web services connection(i.e., for the Internet) to provide an interface between the server 30and remote device 70. The host system 480 can also include a mobile dataserver (e.g., server 1174 of FIG. 11) for facilitating datacommunications between the server 30 and remote device 70. A PSTN 450 isalso in communication with the server 30 and remote device 70.

The processor module 250 of the server 30 executes one or more programsstored in its associated memory to process calls received through thePBX 14 or PSTN 450. The remote device 70 and host system 480 will alsocontain a “client” application designed to communicate with the server30 and perform the following processing in accordance with embodimentsdescribed herein. A suitable application architecture for the remotedevice 70 is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/875,212, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Similar to system 10, system 10 a essentially implements all or part ofcall management functions typically available on office, enterprise orhotel PBX or other communications network desktop telephone. Some ofthese features are discussed in detail below. Moreover, the server 30maintains control over inbound, outgoing and in-progress calls andcommunications. Example call processing flows are also disclosed in U.S.application Ser. No. 11/875,212.

It should be appreciated that the interaction between remote device 70and server 30 can include any call processing telephony functions suchas simultaneous ring across multiple devices, single voicemail box,universal voice mail notification, answer acknowledgement, making andreceiving a call, abbreviating extension dialing, call hold andretrieval, multiple call appearance, direct inward/outward dialing, postdigit dialing, flexible dialing plans/international dialing, caller ID(name, number), voicemail notification, auto reconnect, callback, callforwarding, call transfer, call hold, call waiting, call mute, callblocking, call redial, call parking, speed dial, operator assisteddialing, Do Not Disturb (DND), DND Bypass List (i.e., a list ofnames/numbers allowed to bypass the do not disturb feature), and DNDIgnore List (i.e., a list of names/numbers to always divert tovoicemail).

In accordance with an embodiment, the database of server 30 may alsocontain numerous system-defined user access rights and user modifiablepreferences, which can alter the call processing of the invention. Anoffice administrator may use the network computers 42 a, 42 b or aremote administration device 52 to set user access rights andpriorities. The user may use the remote administration device 52 to setnumerous user preferences. It is desirable that a Web-based or graphicaluser interface be used so that the user can easily access and set userpreferences. The network computers 42 a, 42 b (or remote device 52) mayalso be used by the user if so desired.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of the User Phones preference page 500,which can be used by the user to associate remote telephony devices tothe user's extension. As illustrated, the page 500 contains multiplerows 502, 504, 506, 508, 510 of remote devices and their telephonenumbers all of which have been associated with the extension “66126”listed in static area 514 of the page 500. Static area 514 also containsa system identifier (“System ID”) and a separate field for the user'sPBX extension and system extension (“Ext.”), which could be differentthan the PBX extension as described above. It should be appreciated thatthere are similar pages 500 for other extensions used by the enterprisenetwork and recognized by the server 30. The illustrated page 500 liststhe following fields for each row 502, 504, 506, 508, 510 of remotedevices/telephone numbers: System ID 501, Description 503, Phone Number505, Priority 507, Phone Type 509, Phone On 511, Phone Off 513, ScheduleEnabled 515, Remote Phone Schedules 517, and SIP Address 519.

The System ID field 501 is used to associate the system's identifier tothe user's remote devices. It should be appreciated that differentsystem identifiers could populate the rows 502, 504, 506, 508, 510 andthe embodiment is not necessarily limited to the contents of the examplepage 500. The Description field 503 allows the user to identify or namethe device being listed in the row. A descriptive name, for example, canmake it easier for the user or system administrator to identify theparticular remote device listed in the row. For example, the first row502 contains a device described as “Primary Cell”, which presumablymeans that the user equates this device to its primary cellulartelephone and its telephone number. According to the Phone Type field509, this user's “Primary Cell” is a Blackberry™ device (i.e.,Blackberry Cell A). The Phone Number field 505 associates the PrimaryCell's telephone number (i.e., 8185551111) to the user's extension(i.e., “66126”).

Once the remote device is turned on using the Phone On field 511, callscan be sent to the remote device 70 via the server 30 as described aboveand below. The Phone Off field 513 allows the user to prevent calls frombeing sent to the particular remote device from the server 30. In theillustrated example, the devices listed in rows 502, 504, 508 and 510are turned on while the device listed in row 506 is turned off (viafield 513). Regardless of the settings in fields 511 and 513, the remotedevices listed in the rows 502, 504, 506, 508, 510 are still capable ofreceiving and placing calls using the carrier network or serviceprovider associated with that device.

The illustrated page 500 also includes a Priority field 507, which canbe used by the server 30 to determine a priority order among the remotedevices listed in the rows 502, 504, 506, 508, 510. In the illustratedexample, all of the devices listed in the rows 502, 504, 506, 508, 510have the same priority (i.e., priority level 1). Another other optionavailable using the page 500 includes enabling schedules for the user'sremote devices via the Schedule Enabled and Remote Phone Schedulesfields 515, 517. In addition, the page 500 includes a SIP address forany of the user's SIP devices that can be used with the server 30. Inthe illustrated example, new devices and telephone numbers can be addedby pushing the ADD button 512.

Thus, according to FIG. 5B, the user associated with extension “66126”has four remote devices that are active for receiving calls from theserver 30 (or placing calls through the server 30): a Primary Celldevice that is a Blackberry™ device having the telephone number8185551111 (row 502); a Secondary Cell device that is a cellular devicefrom provider A having the telephone number 8185552222 (row 504); aPrimary Home device having the telephone number 8185554444 (row 508);and a Secondary Home device having the telephone number 8185556666 (row510). A Spare Cell device that is a Blackberry™ device having thetelephone number 8185553333 (row 506) is not active at this time for usewith the routing provided by the server 30.

In another embodiment, discussed below, an email client method and theserver 30 allow a conference organizer to schedule a conference (e.g.,conference call) using a calendar feature found in most of today's emailapplications (e.g., Microsoft® Office Outlook®, IBM® Lotus Notes®,etc.). When the email client is installed to work with the user's emailapplication, an option becomes available on the email appointment windowtoolbar that allows the appointment feature to be designated as aconference (instead of the typical meeting appointment). The server 30is adapted to receive an incoming conference request via a data message(e.g., email message) and coordinates acceptances to the request. At thetime of the conference, the server 30 retrieves a list of conferenceparticipants/attendees (i.e., invitees and/or the organizer) and theircontact information. The server 30 determines whether or not eachparticipant/attendee is a server participant (i.e., if the participanthas a user profile registered with the server 30 or its system 10, 10a). If the participant/attendee is a server participant, the server 30will initiate the conference by calling the multiple contact numbersassociated with the participant/attendee. If the participant/attendee isnot a server participant, the server 30 will call one contact numberassociated with the participant/attendee. That is, in one embodiment,the server 30 places calls to the call participants/attendees when it istime to start the conference and then connects the calls together toform the conference. As is discussed below in more detail, this type ofconference is referred to herein as a “Get Me” conference.

Another embodiment, discussed below, also allows the organizer to createa conference request in which the participants/attendees must call acall-in number to initiate/join the conference. In this embodiment, theconference request is also created through the email client. As isdiscussed below in more detail, this type of conference is referred toherein as a “Meet Me” conference.

In accordance with another example embodiment, FIG. 6A illustrates thebasic conference/meeting request message processing flow that the server30 (via processor module 250), host system 480 and remote device 70 maybe programmed to handle and execute. In scenario 600, a user (e.g.,inviter) can send a conference/meeting request using the novel emailclient (described below) designed to work with an email application suchas e.g., Microsoft® Office Outlook®, IBM® Lotus Notes®, etc. operatingon the inviter's personal computer, office computer or PDA (e.g.,Blackberry™). Server 30 receives the incoming conference/meetingrequest, e.g., an email, from the inviter (flow line 600 a). Server 30sends a conference request data message (e.g., email) to the invitee'semail address, which can be answered at the invitee's remote device 70(flow line 600 b) or other device (e.g., computer) having an emailapplication. The conference request message invites the invitee (alsoreferred to as an attendee by typical email applications) to participatein the requested conference. It should be noted that an inviter does nothave to be a participant. He/she could simply be sending theconference/meeting request and serving as an administrator and/ororganizer. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the inviter may includehim/herself as one of the invitees. In a desired embodiment, however,the inviter will automatically be included in the call, but are notrequired to be included within a personal conference group (describedbelow).

The invitee can choose to participate in the conference by accepting theinvitation and having the device 70 (or other computer) send aconference accept response message (e.g., email), to the server 30 (flowline 600 c). FIG. 6B illustrates an opened email invitation 690representing a conference request in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. An invitee “accepts” the invitation within the emailinvitation 690 from e.g., the invitee's remote device 70, by pressingthe accept button 691 within the email invitation 690. The invitation690 may also include fields listing the required participants 692, theinviter 697, the subject of the email 699, the date/time of theconference 693, the conference location 694 (e.g., the systemcoordinating the conference) and a message (see e.g., messages 737, 755described below) and any additional information contained in text box695. An invitee also has the choice to decline the invitation usingsoftware button 696, tentatively accept the invitation using button 691a, or propose a new date/time using button 698.

In the following example, it is presumed that the inviter has requesteda Get Me conference. It is also presumed that participants are usingtheir respective remote devices 70 for the conference call. Referringagain to FIG. 6A, in scenario 601, once the conference request has beenaccepted, and the time for the conference has arrived, the server 30initiates the Get Me conference by placing calls to each invitee. Thisis a major improvement over today's conference call features. Server 30sends a call setup data signal (e.g., email) to a first invitee (flowline 601 a). The data signal may cause an audible, visual and/orvibration indication to occur on the invitee's remote device 70 (as setby a user or system preference). For example, the call setup requestdata signal may cause the remote device 70 to play a ring, ring tone orother suitable audible indication. The meeting setup request data signalmay cause the device 70 to display a textual or graphical message,pop-up or other visual notification (e.g., blinking LED on the device70).

FIG. 6C illustrates one example call setup notification received at aremote device 70. The notification displays “Incoming Call from Jane Doe123-456-7890,” which in this example is the inviter's telephone contactnumber. The incoming call being received by remote device 70 will appearand function substantially similar to a typical incoming voice call asdescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/875,212. User responses mayinclude, e.g., “Accept” or “Send to Voicemail.” Using options 555, whichthe user may select at this point, the invitee can accept the incomingcall to join the conference causing his/her remote device 70 to send acall setup response accept data signal (i.e., email) to server 30 (flowline 601 b) to join the requested conference.

If the call is accepted (flow line 601 b) by the invitee, server 30 willsubstantially seamlessly connect the invitee's remote device 70 via PSTNconnection 450 to server 30 and establishes a voice call connection(flow line 601 c). In the meantime, server 30 substantiallysimultaneously, or sequentially (depending upon a system/user option)sends a setup request data signal to the inviter's remote device 70(flow line 601 d) inquiring whether or not the inviter would like tojoin the conference. As described above, the setup request data signalwill cause an audible, visual and/or vibration indication to occur onthe remote device 70 (as set by a user or system preference).

The inviter can choose to join the conference by accepting the call fromthe server 30 and by having the device 70 send a setup response acceptdata signal to the server 30 (flow line 601 e). This may be performed byselecting “Accept” from the options 555, as illustrated in FIG. 6C. Inresponse, the server 30 will place a call to the inviter's remote device(voice signal flow line 601 f) and substantially seamlessly connect theinviter's remote device 70 via PSTN connection 450 to server 30.

Server 30 will then connect the two formed connections between server 30and inviter's remote device (flow line 6010 and server 30 and invitee'sremote device (flow line 601 c) to substantially seamlessly form asingle connection to form a conference call (flow line 601 g). Thus, inthe Get Me conference example, a conference call was established by theserver 30 without the need for the participants/attendees to call intothe conference as is typically required in today's conferencing systems.Thus, the problems associated with conventional conference calls areovercome or substantially mitigated. Moreover, the conference wasinitiated via email using a calendar function, without the use of aconferencing service. The use of email allows attachments and otherinformation to be sent to the participants.

It should be appreciated that although this embodiment is described ashaving one invitee (FIG. 6A), server 30 has the capability to contactmultiple invitees in response to any meeting request. The number ofinvitees is determined by the number of participants listed within theconference setup (described below). It should also be appreciated thatthe server 30 can place calls to other devices such as e.g., a telephoneconnected to an office extension, a home telephone or a cellulartelephone. It should also be appreciated that server 30 can dialmultiple contact numbers for each invitee. The contact numbers may beassociated with a user profile (discussed above) corresponding to eachinvitee. Server 30 dials the invitee's contact numbers based on theconfiguration of the invitee's user profile and/or the conferencecontact maintained on the inviter's email application. For example,server 30 could dial an invitee's business extension, PDA (e.g.,Blackberry™), home phone, etc. Server 30 could dial an invitee's phonesbased on a number of ring configurations such as simultaneous,sequential, or a combination of simultaneous and sequential as disclosedin U.S. application Ser. No. 09/593,543, which is hereby incorporated inits entirety. Once all participants are connected to server 30 (via ananswered device), server 30 connects each individual answered device toa single connection allowing the participants to conduct a conferencecall.

In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 6D, server 30 begins its process605 when it receives an incoming conference/meeting request and theacceptances to the request (step 610). Server 30, at step 620, retrievesthe list of participants/attendees (e.g., the invitees and/or theorganizer) and their associated conference contact information. Onceserver 30 has identified all participants, the server 30 determines atstep 630 whether or not each participant is a server participant. Thatis, server 30 determines if a participant has a user profile registeredwith the server 30 or its system 10, 10 a. If the participant is aserver participant, server 30 places calls to multiple contact numbersassociated with that participant (step 650). If the invitee/participantis not a server participant, server 30 places a call to one contactnumber associated with that participant (step 640).

The embodiments described above are related to an email client methodand apparatus that allows a user to schedule a Get Me conference. A GetMe conference is a conference where the server 30 initiates theconference by calling the conference attendees/participants. The emailclient can also be used to initiate a Meet Me conference, where theparticipants are invited by email, but are required to call a call-innumber. The email client allows the user to schedule a conference viathe calendar feature. The embodiments described below are described witha specific example illustrated using Microsoft® Office Outlook®.However, it should be appreciated that the embodiments should not be solimited. These embodiments can also be used in other email applicationssuch as IBM® Lotus Notes®, or Apple® email applications as well as emailapplications running on mobile devices.

When the email client is integrated with or installed to work with anemail application, such as e.g., Microsoft® Office Outlook®, a button orpull-down tab is available on the email application in an Appointmentinspector window toolbar that allows the email application Appointmentto be designated as a conference. When this button on the toolbar isselected the details of the email application Appointment arecommunicated to the server 30 and any changes made to the appointmentare also communicated to the server 30. Since the illustrated example isbased on a Microsoft® Office Outlook® system, it should be noted thatMicrosoft® Office Outlook® refers to meeting participants as attendeesand that some of the illustrations refer to attendees.

The email client adds an Options tab page to the standard emailapplication Options dialog on the email application Calendar displayscreen 700 (FIG. 7A). Selecting the “Tools” menu 701 and then the“Options” menu item 703 displays the email application Options dialog705, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. The “Conferencing” tab 707, displayedin FIG. 7B, provides the user interface for configuring the email clientto work with the user's email application and server 30. The settingsdisplayed on this options tab page are stored in a database, i.e., theuser's application data directory. The settings for the emailapplication are set at installation and may be changed by the user atany time. For example, the settings may be as follows: SynchronizationInterval field 709—The Synchronization interval field 709 specifies thepolling interval that the email client will use to communicate with theserver 30 to synchronize the information stored in the email client withthe information stored in the server 30; Server field 11—This field 711lists the hostname or IP address of the web server hosting the Web userinterface; System ID field 713—This field 713 is the System ID of theserver 30; Extension field 715 contains the email client user'sextension on the system 10, 10 a; Password field 717 lists the passwordon the system 10, 10 a for the specified extension; Test Connectionbutton 719—This button 719 pulls the settings displayed in the userinterface and attempts to contact the server 30 to request a conferencePIN. If the request is successful, a message indicating success isdisplayed. If the request for the PIN is not successful, the errorinformation message is displayed, allowing the user to correct any notederrors in the configuration.

The email client allows the user to schedule a conference via an emailapplication Appointment 721 (FIG. 7C) using the “New Conference button723. The user creates a new email application Appointment (or selects anexisting email application Appointment when changes are necessary), viathe email application Calendar feature 725 (FIG. 7D), by selecting the“New Meeting Request” option 727 from a menu (e.g., the “New” menu 726).Then the email application Appointment Inspector user interface 729 isdisplayed having an email application client toolbar 731, as shown inFIG. 7E. The toolbar 731 contains a button “New Conference” 723. Thisbutton 723 will be disabled if the email application Appointment in theinspector dialog occurred in the past, or the email application is in adisconnected state (i.e., not connected to the exchange server). Inorder to create a conference, the user selects the “New Conference”button 723. Selecting the “New Conference” button 723 requests aconference PIN from the system (not shown). After button 723 isselected, the email application Appointment Inspector 735 appears (FIG.7F). The user has the choice to send either a “Get Me” conferencerequest or a “Meet Me” conference request (both described below in moredetail) using pull down field 733.

Field 733 provides a dropdown list (not shown) that allows the user tochange the conference from a “Get Me” conference to a “Meet Me”conference. A “Get Me” conference is a conference where the server 30gets an attendee to join a conference at that time. In other words, theserver 30 calls the attendees to obtain an immediate connection to theattendee at the requested time. In essence, the server 30 goes out andgets the attendee when the call is to begin. A “Meet Me” conference iswhere a user proposes a time and place and the attendees are required tocall into the conference at that given time. In other words, the server30 is sending a message to the attendee requesting them to meet the userat a later time. Once a “Get Me” or “Meet Me” conference is selected,the appointment message body 737 is placed into the text box 739providing the information about the conference. At this point, the usermust also provide the start date and time 745, end date and time 749,attendees (not shown), subject 747 and location 743 for the conference.The conference is not scheduled on the server 30 until the user savesthe appointment using button 741. Any subsequent changes to the emailapplication Appointment that involve the start date/time 745, enddate/time 749, attendees, meeting type (“Get Me” or “Meet Me”) 733,subject 747 or location 743 are communicated to the server 30 when thechanges to the Appointment are saved by the user. FIG. 7G illustratesthe corresponding screen 751, similar to that just described withrespect to FIG. 7F, for an email application Appointment associated witha “Meet Me” conference. FIG. 7G includes an email address withinattendee box 753 that is not shown in FIG. 7F. The screen 751 alsoincludes the appointment message body 755 that is placed into the textbox 757 providing the information about the conference. The boxes forproviding the start date/time 759, end date/time 761, attendees 753,subject 763 and location 765 are also shown.

In regards to the conversion of the email application Appointment'sattendees to the system's conference participants and non-participants,in order for an attendee to be included in the conference the attendeemust have a phone number. The email client programs a business phone,mobile phone and home phone numbers of the attendee (in that order) asthe contact numbers for the attendee. If no number is found, the emailclient will display an error dialog box. It should be noted, however,that the email client can configure an attendee's phone numbers in anyorder desired by the attendee.

Personal conference groups (PCGs) for the inviter are stored in a“Conferencing Contacts” folder (not shown) in the email application. Theemail client automatically creates this folder in the same location asthe user's standard “Contacts” folder. The email application user canmove this folder's location, but cannot delete the folder or modify thecontents of the folder. The views are customized to prevent the userfrom modifying the contents. It is desired that the “ConferencingContacts” folder be kept separate from the standard “Contacts” foldergenerally used by the users because of its read-only nature. This folderis populated and modified only by the email client itself, not by theuser. This folder will contain a personal conference group entry 767(FIG. 7H) listing members 773 of the PCG, their name 769 and emailaddress 771. A contact 775 for each of the user's PCG contacts as shownin FIG. 7I and a contact entry 775 for any participants ornon-participants members of the PCGs that cannot be matched withexisting exchange users or contacts. The user can use the PCG 767 whenscheduling conferences by adding a PCG 767 to an appointment in the sameway any other “Distribution List” would be added to an appointment. Thecontact entry 775 comprises for each PCG member a name field 777, emailaddress field 779 and contact phone numbers 781 a, 781 b, 781 c. Thenumbers can include PBX extensions, home/office phone numbers andwireless device numbers. The folder could also handle other identifyingPCG information desired by the user and/or system administrator such asphone numbers.

The disclosed inspector view for PCGs 767 in the “Conferencing Contacts”folder is shown in FIG. 7H. The view is very similar to the inspectorview for an Outlook® “Distribution List”, but with limited actions. Theonly current action that is supported is to send an email to the membersof the PCG.

The contact entry 775 is almost identical to the card view for emailapplication contacts, but displays only the information that isavailable from the system for each entry 775, i.e., a participant,non-participant or PCG. A Personal Conference Group is represented inthis folder as a Distribution List. When the Distribution List iscreated in an email application the email client gets the list ofparticipants and non-participants for the PCG. The email client tries tomatch the members of the PCG with existing Exchange users or existingcontacts. The match is done using a name 777, email address 779, and/orphone number 781 a, 781 b, 781 c. If no match can be found, the emailclient will create an email application contact in the “ConferencingContacts” folder.

The disclosed email client requires the synchronization of theinformation stored in the email application with the information storedin the system 10 a. Once a conference is scheduled, the user may use theWeb user interface or the text user interface to change the settings ofthis conference available through the email application and client.These changes must be then reflected in the email applicationAppointment. Accordingly, the email client periodically communicateswith the server 30 and requests the list of conferences and PCGs so asto synchronize both databases. The returned conferences and PCGs arecompared with the appointments and PCGs (Distribution Lists) stored inthe email application and any variations are corrected.

In one embodiment, the email client communicates with the server 30 byusing HTTP Get messages as is known in the art. The email client can beconfigured to use HTTP or HTTPS as the communication protocol. The emailclient also handles redirection to a logon page by the server. When anHTTP Get message is sent to the server 30 and a redirection to alogon.jsp is detected, the email client will respond with an HTTP Postwith the appropriate logon information. Once successfully logged on, theoriginal HTTP Get is resent.

Some procedures used by the email client include: outlookList.jsp usedto request the list of scheduled conferences and the list of PCGs for auser; sp_OL_PCGMember_GET—used to request the members for a personalconference group; sp_OL_Conference_OneTime_People_Get used to requestthe one time members of a conference;

-   sp_OL_Personal_Conference_Group_Call_Insert used to create a    conference;-   sp_OL_Personal_Conference_Edit—used to update the information in a    conference;-   sp_OL_Personal_Conference_Delete—used to delete a conference;-   sp_OL_Conference_OneTime_People_Insert—used to add an attendee to a    conference;-   sp_OL_Conference_OneTime_People_Remove—used to remove an attendee    from a conference;-   sp_OL_Conference_OneTime_Group_Insert—used to add a member to a PCG;-   sp_OL_Conference_OneTime_Group_Remove—used to remove a member from a    PCG; and-   sp_OL_Get_Conf_PIN_and_Numbers—used to request a PIN for a    conference.

The email client preferably includes the following software applicationspackages to enhance its performance. The first software package is usedby the client to avoid the security popup that is displayed any time anemail address is accessed. One suitable example is provided byRedemption (http://www.dimastr.com/redemption). Another software packagethat may be used is a development tool that generates a wrapper to hideall the complexities of writing a COM Add-in. One example is Add-inExpress .NET (http://www.add-in-express.com/add-in-net/) fromAfalinasoft. Another software package, also from Afalinasoft, is apackage that allows for the email application Explorer and Inspectorforms to be customized. For example, ADX Extensions for emailapplication (http://www.add-in-express.com/outlook-extension). The finalsoftware package preferably used by the email client is a small set ofcomponents that have the look and feel of the email application. Asuitable example of these components is QiosDevSuite(http://www.qiosdevsuite.com).

It should be appreciated that the email client will need to be installedand configured to perform the above-noted functions. It is desirablethat the email client be installed via the web. The installation isinitiated via a menu item on the user's system Web user interface. Theemail client is packaged into a standard Microsoft® MSI file. An opensource bootstrapper may be used. The open source bootstrapper uses XMLfiles to configure the setup process. The general steps of theinstallation are as follows: (1) the user selects a link that downloadsand executes the bootstrapper (ASAddinWebSetup.exe); (2) thebootstrapper uses the designated URL to download the configuration.xmlfile from the URL; (3) the bootstrapper reads the contents of theconfiguration.xml file in order to determine the next actions to take;(4) the configuration.xml file indicates that theASOutlookAddinSetup.msi file should be downloaded via the Web and thenexecuted; (5) the bootstrapper downloads the msi; (6) the bootstrapperexecutes the downloaded msi; (7) the user steps through the installationscreens; and (8) the installation completes.

It should be appreciated that the system could utilize “voice over IP”communications (i.e., voice over a data network) with appropriate remotedevices. Many of today's wireless telephones and PDA's have the abilityto place and receive cellular and data (voice over IP) telephone callsand to access the Internet or other data network. It should beappreciated that any conventional remote device could be used withsystem.

In one embodiment, remote device 70 can be implemented as mobile device800, illustrated in FIG. 8. Mobile device 800 is a two-way communicationdevice with advanced data communication capabilities including thecapability to communicate with other mobile devices or computer systemsthrough a network of transceiver stations. The mobile device may alsohave the capability to allow voice communication. Depending on thefunctionality provided by the mobile device, it may be referred to as adata messaging device, a two-way pager, a cellular telephone with datamessaging capabilities, a wireless Internet appliance, or a datacommunication device (with or without telephony capabilities). To aidthe reader in understanding the structure of the mobile device 800 andhow it communicates with other devices and host systems, reference willnow be made to FIGS. 8 through 11.

Referring to FIG. 8, shown therein is a block diagram of an exemplaryembodiment of a mobile device 800. The mobile device 800 includes anumber of components such as a main processor 802 that controls theoverall operation of the mobile device 800. Communication functions,including data and voice communications, are performed through acommunication subsystem 804. The communication subsystem 804 receivesmessages from and sends messages to a wireless network 850. In thisexemplary embodiment of the mobile device 800, the communicationsubsystem 804 is configured in accordance with the Global System forMobile Communication (GSM) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS)standards. The GSM/GPRS wireless network is used worldwide and it isexpected that these standards will be superseded eventually by EnhancedData GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsService (UMTS). New standards are still being defined, but it isbelieved that they will have similarities to the network behaviordescribed herein, and it will also be understood by persons skilled inthe art that the embodiments described herein are intended to use anyother suitable standards that are developed in the future. The wirelesslink connecting the communication subsystem 804 with the wirelessnetwork 850 represents one or more different Radio Frequency (RF)channels, operating according to defined protocols specified forGSM/GPRS communications. With newer network protocols, these channelsare capable of supporting both circuit switched voice communications andpacket switched data communications.

Although the wireless network 850 associated with mobile device 800 is aGSM/GPRS wireless network in one exemplary implementation, otherwireless networks may also be associated with the mobile device 800 invariant implementations. The different types of wireless networks thatmay be employed include, for example, data-centric wireless networks,voice-centric wireless networks, and dual-mode networks that can supportboth voice and data communications over the same physical base stations.Combined dual-mode networks include, but are not limited to, CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) or CDMA2000 networks, GSM/GPRS networks(as mentioned above), and future third-generation (3G) networks likeEDGE and UMTS. Some other examples of data-centric networks include WiFi802.11, Mobitex™ and DataTAC™ network communication systems. Examples ofother voice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems(PCS) networks like GSM and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)systems.

The main processor 802 also interacts with additional subsystems such asa Random Access Memory (RAM) 806, a flash memory 808, a display 810, anauxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystem 812, a data port 814, a keyboard816, a speaker 818, a microphone 820, short-range communications 822 andother device subsystems 824.

Some of the subsystems of the mobile device 800 performcommunication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide“resident” or on-device functions. By way of example, the display 810and the keyboard 816 may be used for both communication-relatedfunctions, such as entering a text message for transmission over thenetwork 850, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or tasklist.

The mobile device 800 can send and receive communication signals overthe wireless network 850 after required network registration oractivation procedures have been completed. Network access is associatedwith a subscriber or user of the mobile device 800. To identify asubscriber, the mobile device 800 requires a SIM/RUIM card 826 (i.e.Subscriber Identity Module or a Removable User Identity Module) to beinserted into a SIM/RUIM interface 828 in order to communicate with anetwork. The SIM card or RUIM 826 is one type of a conventional “smartcard” that can be used to identify a subscriber of the mobile device 800and to personalize the mobile device 800, among other things. Withoutthe SIM card 826, the mobile device 800 is not fully operational forcommunication with the wireless network 850. By inserting the SIMcard/RUIM 826 into the SIM/RUIM interface 828, a subscriber can accessall subscribed services. Services may include: web browsing andmessaging such as e-mail, voicemail, Short Message Service (SMS), andMultimedia Messaging Services (MMS). More advanced services may include:point of sale, field service and sales force automation. The SIMcard/RUIM 826 includes a processor and memory for storing information.Once the SIM card/RUIM 826 is inserted into the SIM/RUIM interface 828,it is coupled to the main processor 802. In order to identify thesubscriber, the SIM card/RUIM 826 can include some user parameters suchas an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). An advantage ofusing the SIM card/RUIM 826 is that a subscriber is not necessarilybound by any single physical mobile device. The SIM card/RUIM 826 maystore additional subscriber information for a mobile device as well,including datebook (or calendar) information and recent callinformation. Alternatively, user identification information can also beprogrammed into the flash memory 808.

The mobile device 800 is a battery-powered device and includes a batteryinterface 832 for receiving one or more rechargeable batteries 830. Inat least some embodiments, the battery 830 can be a smart battery withan embedded microprocessor. The battery interface 832 is coupled to aregulator (not shown), which assists the battery 830 in providing powerV+ to the mobile device 800. Although current technology makes use of abattery, future technologies such as micro fuel cells may provide thepower to the mobile device 800.

The mobile device 800 also includes an operating system 834 and softwarecomponents 836 to 846 which are described in more detail below. Theoperating system 834 and the software components 836 to 846 that areexecuted by the main processor 802 are typically stored in a persistentstore such as the flash memory 808, which may alternatively be aread-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (not shown). Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that portions of the operating system834 and the software components 836 to 846, such as specific deviceapplications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into avolatile store such as the RAM 806. Other software components can alsobe included, as is well known to those skilled in the art.

The subset of software applications 836 that control basic deviceoperations, including data and voice communication applications, willnormally be installed on the mobile device 800 during its manufacture.Other software applications include a message application 838 that canbe any suitable software program that allows a user of the mobile device800 to send and receive electronic messages. Various alternatives existfor the message application 838 as is well known to those skilled in theart. Messages that have been sent or received by the user are typicallystored in the flash memory 808 of the mobile device 800 or some othersuitable storage element in the mobile device 800. In at least someembodiments, some of the sent and received messages may be storedremotely from the device 800 such as in a data store of an associatedhost system that the mobile device 800 communicates with.

The software applications can further include a device state module 840,a Personal Information Manager (PIM) 842, and other suitable modules(not shown). The device state module 840 provides persistence, i.e. thedevice state module 840 ensures that important device data is stored inpersistent memory, such as the flash memory 808, so that the data is notlost when the mobile device 800 is turned off or loses power.

The PIM 842 includes functionality for organizing and managing dataitems of interest to the user, such as, but not limited to, e-mail,contacts, calendar events, voicemails, appointments, and task items. APIM application has the ability to send and receive data items via thewireless network 850. PIM data items may be seamlessly integrated,synchronized, and updated via the wireless network 850 with the mobiledevice subscriber's corresponding data items stored and/or associatedwith a host computer system. This functionality creates a mirrored hostcomputer on the mobile device 800 with respect to such items. This canbe particularly advantageous when the host computer system is the mobiledevice subscriber's office computer system.

The mobile device 800 also includes a connect module 844, and an ITpolicy module 846. The connect module 844 implements the communicationprotocols that are required for the mobile device 800 to communicatewith the wireless infrastructure and any host system, such as anenterprise system, that the mobile device 800 is authorized to interfacewith. Examples of a wireless infrastructure and an enterprise system aregiven in FIGS. 10 and 11, which are described in more detail below.

The connect module 844 includes a set of APIs that can be integratedwith the mobile device 800 to allow the mobile device 800 to use anynumber of services associated with the enterprise system. The connectmodule 844 allows the mobile device 800 to establish an end-to-endsecure, authenticated communication pipe with the host system. A subsetof applications for which access is provided by the connect module 844can be used to pass IT policy commands from the host system to themobile device 800. This can be done in a wireless or wired manner. Theseinstructions can then be passed to the IT policy module 846 to modifythe configuration of the device 800. Alternatively, in some cases, theIT policy update can also be done over a wired connection.

The IT policy module 846 receives IT policy data that encodes the ITpolicy. The IT policy module 846 then ensures that the IT policy data isauthenticated by the mobile device 800. The IT policy data can then bestored in the flash memory 806 in its native form. After the IT policydata is stored, a global notification can be sent by the IT policymodule 846 to all of the applications residing on the mobile device 800.Applications for which the IT policy may be applicable then respond byreading the IT policy data to look for IT policy rules that areapplicable.

The IT policy module 846 can include a parser (not shown), which can beused by the applications to read the IT policy rules. In some cases,another module or application can provide the parser. Grouped IT policyrules, described in more detail below, are retrieved as byte streams,which are then sent (recursively, in a sense) into the parser todetermine the values of each IT policy rule defined within the groupedIT policy rule. In at least some embodiments, the IT policy module 846can determine which applications are affected by the IT policy data andsend a notification to only those applications. In either of thesecases, for applications that aren't running at the time of thenotification, the applications can call the parser or the IT policymodule 846 when they are executed to determine if there are any relevantIT policy rules in the newly received IT policy data.

All applications that support rules in the IT Policy are coded to knowthe type of data to expect. For example, the value that is set for the“WEP User Name” IT policy rule is known to be a string; therefore thevalue in the IT policy data that corresponds to this rule is interpretedas a string. As another example, the setting for the “Set MaximumPassword Attempts” IT policy rule is known to be an integer, andtherefore the value in the IT policy data that corresponds to this ruleis interpreted as such.

After the IT policy rules have been applied to the applicableapplications or configuration files, the IT policy module 846 sends anacknowledgement back to the host system to indicate that the IT policydata was received and successfully applied.

Other types of software applications can also be installed on the mobiledevice 800. These software applications can be third party applications,which are added after the manufacture of the mobile device 800. Examplesof third party applications include games, calculators, utilities, etc.

The additional applications can be loaded onto the mobile device 800through at least one of the wireless network 850, the auxiliary I/Osubsystem 812, the data port 814, the short-range communicationssubsystem 822, or any other suitable device subsystem 824. Thisflexibility in application installation increases the functionality ofthe mobile device 800 and may provide enhanced on-device functions,communication-related functions, or both. For example, securecommunication applications may enable electronic commerce functions andother such financial transactions to be performed using the mobiledevice 800.

The data port 814 enables a subscriber to set preferences through anexternal device or software application and extends the capabilities ofthe mobile device 800 by providing for information or software downloadsto the mobile device 800 other than through a wireless communicationnetwork. The alternate download path may, for example, be used to loadan encryption key onto the mobile device 800 through a direct and thusreliable and trusted connection to provide secure device communication.

The data port 814 can be any suitable port that enables datacommunication between the mobile device 800 and another computingdevice. The data port 814 can be a serial or a parallel port. In someinstances, the data port 814 can be a USB port that includes data linesfor data transfer and a supply line that can provide a charging currentto charge the battery 830 of the mobile device 800.

The short-range communications subsystem 822 provides for communicationbetween the mobile device 800 and different systems or devices, withoutthe use of the wireless network 850. For example, the subsystem 822 mayinclude an infrared device and associated circuits and components forshort-range communication. Examples of short-range communicationstandards include standards developed by the Infrared Data Association(IrDA), Bluetooth, and the 802.11 family of standards developed by IEEE.

In use, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, orweb page download will be processed by the communication subsystem 804and input to the main processor 802. The main processor 802 will thenprocess the received signal for output to the display 810 oralternatively to the auxiliary I/O subsystem 812. A subscriber may alsocompose data items, such as e-mail messages, for example, using thekeyboard 816 in conjunction with the display 810 and possibly theauxiliary I/O subsystem 812. The auxiliary subsystem 812 may includedevices such as: a touch screen, mouse, track ball, infrared fingerprintdetector, or a roller wheel with dynamic button pressing capability. Thekeyboard 816 is preferably an alphanumeric keyboard and/ortelephone-type keypad. However, other types of keyboards may also beused. A composed item may be transmitted over the wireless network 850through the communication subsystem 804.

For voice communications, the overall operation of the mobile device 800is substantially similar, except that the received signals are output tothe speaker 818, and signals for transmission are generated by themicrophone 820. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as avoice message recording subsystem, can also be implemented on the mobiledevice 800. Although voice or audio signal output is accomplishedprimarily through the speaker 818, the display 810 can also be used toprovide additional information such as the identity of a calling party,duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information.

Referring to FIG. 9, an exemplary block diagram of the communicationsubsystem component 804 is shown. The communication subsystem 804includes a receiver 950, a transmitter 952, as well as associatedcomponents such as one or more embedded or internal antenna elements 954and 956, Local Oscillators (LOs) 958, and a processing module such as aDigital Signal Processor (DSP) 960. The particular design of thecommunication subsystem 804 is dependent upon the communication network850 with which the mobile device 800 is intended to operate. Thus, itshould be understood that the design illustrated in FIG. 9 serves onlyas one example.

Signals received by the antenna 954 through the wireless network 850 areinput to the receiver 950, which may perform such common receiverfunctions as signal amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering,channel selection, and analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. A/Dconversion of a received signal allows more complex communicationfunctions such as demodulation and decoding to be performed in the DSP960. In a similar manner, signals to be transmitted are processed,including modulation and encoding, by the DSP 960. These DSP-processedsignals are input to the transmitter 952 for digital-to-analog (D/A)conversion, frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification andtransmission over the wireless network 850 via the antenna 956. The DSP960 not only processes communication signals, but also provides forreceiver and transmitter control. For example, the gains applied tocommunication signals in the receiver 950 and the transmitter 952 may beadaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithmsimplemented in the DSP 960.

The wireless link between the mobile device 800 and the wireless network850 can contain one or more different channels, typically different RFchannels, and associated protocols used between the mobile device 800and the wireless network 850. An RF channel is a limited resource thatmust be conserved, typically due to limits in overall bandwidth andlimited battery power of the mobile device 800.

When the mobile device 800 is fully operational, the transmitter 952 istypically keyed or turned on only when it is transmitting to thewireless network 850 and is otherwise turned off to conserve resources.Similarly, the receiver 950 is periodically turned off to conserve poweruntil it is needed to receive signals or information (if at all) duringdesignated time periods.

Referring to FIG. 10, a block diagram of an exemplary implementation ofa node 1002 of the wireless network 850 is shown. In practice, thewireless network 850 comprises one or more nodes 1002. In conjunctionwith the connect module 844, the mobile device 800 can communicate withthe node 1002 within the wireless network 850. In the exemplaryimplementation of FIG. 10, the node 1002 is configured in accordancewith General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Global Systems for Mobile(GSM) technologies. The node 1002 includes a base station controller(BSC) 1004 with an associated tower station 1006, a Packet Control Unit(PCU) 1008 added for GPRS support in GSM, a Mobile Switching Center(MSC) 1010, a Home Location Register (HLR) 1012, a Visitor LocationRegistry (VLR) 1014, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 1016, a GatewayGPRS Support Node (GGSN) 1018, and a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP) 1020. This list of components is not meant to be an exhaustivelist of the components of every node 1002 within a GSM/GPRS network, butrather a list of components that are commonly used in communicationsthrough the network 850.

In a GSM network, the MSC 1010 is coupled to the BSC 1004 and to alandline network, such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)1022 to satisfy circuit switched requirements. The connection throughthe PCU 1008, the SGSN 1016 and the GGSN 1018 to a public or privatenetwork (Internet) 1024 (also referred to herein generally as a sharednetwork infrastructure) represents the data path for GPRS capable mobiledevices. In a GSM network extended with GPRS capabilities, the BSC 1004also contains the Packet Control Unit (PCU) 1008 that connects to theSGSN 1016 to control segmentation, radio channel allocation and tosatisfy packet switched requirements. To track the location of themobile device 800 and availability for both circuit switched and packetswitched management, the HLR 1012 is shared between the MSC 1010 and theSGSN 1016. Access to the VLR 1014 is controlled by the MSC 1010.

The station 1006 is a fixed transceiver station and together with theBSC 1004 form fixed transceiver equipment. The fixed transceiverequipment provides wireless network coverage for a particular coveragearea commonly referred to as a “cell”. The fixed transceiver equipmenttransmits communication signals to and receives communication signalsfrom mobile devices within its cell via the station 1006. The fixedtransceiver equipment normally performs such functions as modulation andpossibly encoding and/or encryption of signals to be transmitted to themobile device 800 in accordance with particular, usually predetermined,communication protocols and parameters, under control of its controller.The fixed transceiver equipment similarly demodulates and possiblydecodes and decrypts, if necessary, any communication signals receivedfrom the mobile device 800 within its cell. Communication protocols andparameters may vary between different nodes. For example, one node mayemploy a different modulation scheme and operate at differentfrequencies than other nodes.

For all mobile devices 800 registered with a specific network, permanentconfiguration data such as a user profile is stored in the HLR 1012. TheHLR 1012 also contains location information for each registered mobiledevice and can be queried to determine the current location of a mobiledevice. The MSC 1010 is responsible for a group of location areas andstores the data of the mobile devices currently in its area ofresponsibility in the VLR 1014. Further, the VLR 1014 also containsinformation on mobile devices that are visiting other networks. Theinformation in the VLR 1014 includes part of the permanent mobile devicedata transmitted from the HLR 1012 to the VLR 1014 for faster access. Bymoving additional information from a remote HLR 1012 node to the VLR1014, the amount of traffic between these nodes can be reduced so thatvoice and data services can be provided with faster response times andat the same time requiring less use of computing resources.

The SGSN 1016 and the GGSN 1018 are elements added for GPRS support;namely packet switched data support, within GSM. The SGSN 1016 and theMSC 1010 have similar responsibilities within the wireless network 850by keeping track of the location of each mobile device 800. The SGSN1016 also performs security functions and access control for datatraffic on the wireless network 800. The GGSN 1018 providesinternetworking connections with external packet switched networks andconnects to one or more SGSN's 1016 via an Internet Protocol (IP)backbone network operated within the network 850. During normaloperations, a given mobile device 800 must perform a “GPRS Attach” toacquire an IP address and to access data services. This requirement isnot present in circuit switched voice channels as Integrated ServicesDigital Network (ISDN) addresses are used for routing incoming andoutgoing calls. Currently, all GPRS capable networks use private,dynamically assigned IP addresses, thus requiring the DHCP server 1020connected to the GGSN 1018. There are many mechanisms for dynamic IPassignment, including using a combination of a Remote AuthenticationDial-In User Service (RADIUS) server and a DHCP server. Once the GPRSAttach is complete, a logical connection is established from a mobiledevice 800, through the PCU 1008, and the SGSN 1016 to an Access PointNode (APN) within the GGSN 1018. The APN represents a logical end of anIP tunnel that can either access direct Internet compatible services orprivate network connections. The APN also represents a securitymechanism for the network 850, insofar as each mobile device 800 must beassigned to one or more APNs and mobile devices 800 cannot exchange datawithout first performing a GPRS Attach to an APN that it has beenauthorized to use. The APN may be considered to be similar to anInternet domain name such as “myconnection.wireless.com”.

Once the GPRS Attach operation is complete, a tunnel is created and alltraffic is exchanged within standard IP packets using any protocol thatcan be supported in IP packets. This includes tunneling methods such asIP over IP as in the case with some IPSecurity (IPsec) connections usedwith Virtual Private Networks (VPN). These tunnels are also referred toas Packet Data Protocol (PDP) Contexts and there are a limited number ofthese available in the network 850. To maximize use of the PDP Contexts,the network 800 will run an idle timer for each PDP Context to determineif there is a lack of activity. When a mobile device 800 is not usingits PDP Context, the PDP Context can be de-allocated and the IP addressreturned to the IP address pool managed by the DHCP server 1020.

Referring to FIG. 11, shown therein is a block diagram illustratingcomponents of an exemplary configuration of a host system 480 that themobile device 800 can communicate with in conjunction with the connectmodule 844. The host system 480 will typically be a corporate enterpriseor other local area network (LAN), but may also be a home officecomputer or some other private system, for example, in variantimplementations. In this example shown in FIG. 11, the host system 480is depicted as a LAN of an organization to which a user of the mobiledevice 800 belongs. Typically, a plurality of mobile devices cancommunicate wirelessly with the host system 480 through one or morenodes 1002 of the wireless network 850.

The host system 480 comprises a number of network components connectedto each other by a network 1160. For instance, a user's desktop computer1162 a with an accompanying cradle 1164 for the user's mobile device 800is situated on a LAN connection. The cradle 1164 for the mobile device800 can be coupled to the computer 1162 a by a serial or a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) connection, for example. Other user computers 1162b-1162 n are also situated on the network 1160, and each may or may notbe equipped with an accompanying cradle 1164. The cradle 1164facilitates the loading of information (e.g. PIM data, private symmetricencryption keys to facilitate secure communications) from the usercomputer 1162 a to the mobile device 800, and may be particularly usefulfor bulk information updates often performed in initializing the mobiledevice 800 for use. The information downloaded to the mobile device 800may include certificates used in the exchange of messages.

It will be understood by persons skilled in the art that the usercomputers 1162 a-1162 n will typically also be connected to otherperipheral devices, such as printers, etc. which are not explicitlyshown in FIG. 11. Furthermore, only a subset of network components ofthe host system 480 are shown in FIG. 11 for ease of exposition, and itwill be understood by persons skilled in the art that the host system480 will comprise additional components that are not explicitly shown inFIG. 11 for this exemplary configuration. More generally, the hostsystem 480 may represent a smaller part of a larger network (not shown)of the organization, and may comprise different components and/or bearranged in different topologies than that shown in the exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 11.

To facilitate the operation of the mobile device 800 and the wirelesscommunication of messages and message-related data between the mobiledevice 800 and components of the host system 480, a number of wirelesscommunication support components 1170 can be provided. In someimplementations, the wireless communication support components 1170 caninclude a message management server 1172, a mobile data server 1174, acontact server 1176, and a device manager module 1178. The devicemanager module 1178 includes an IT Policy editor 1180 and an IT userproperty editor 1182, as well as other software components for allowingan IT administrator to configure the mobile devices 800. In analternative embodiment, there may be one editor that provides thefunctionality of both the IT policy editor 1180 and the IT user propertyeditor 1182. The support components 1170 also include a data store 1184,and an IT policy server 1186. The IT policy server 286 includes aprocessor 1188, a network interface 1190 and a memory unit 1192. Theprocessor 1188 controls the operation of the IT policy server 1186 andexecutes functions related to the standardized IT policy as describedbelow. The network interface 1190 allows the IT policy server 1186 tocommunicate with the various components of the host system 480 and themobile devices 800. The memory unit 1192 can store functions used inimplementing the IT policy as well as related data. Those skilled in theart know how to implement these various components. Other components mayalso be included as is well known to those skilled in the art. Further,in some implementations, the data store 1184 can be part of any one ofthe servers.

In this exemplary embodiment, the mobile device 800 communicates withthe host system 480 through node 1002 of the wireless network 850 and ashared network infrastructure 1124 such as a service provider network orthe public Internet. Access to the host system 480 may be providedthrough one or more routers (not shown), and computing devices of thehost system 480 may operate from behind a firewall or proxy server 1166.The proxy server 1166 provides a secure node and a wireless internetgateway for the host system 480. The proxy server 1166 intelligentlyroutes data to the correct destination server within the host system480.

In some implementations, the host system 480 can include a wireless VPNrouter (not shown) to facilitate data exchange between the host system480 and the mobile device 800. The wireless VPN router allows a VPNconnection to be established directly through a specific wirelessnetwork to the mobile device 800. The wireless VPN router can be usedwith the Internet Protocol (IP) Version 6 (IPV6) and IP-based wirelessnetworks. This protocol can provide enough IP addresses so that eachmobile device has a dedicated IP address, making it possible to pushinformation to a mobile device at any time. An advantage of using awireless VPN router is that it can be an off-the-shelf VPN component,and does not require a separate wireless gateway and separate wirelessinfrastructure. A VPN connection can preferably be a TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP)/IP or User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/IP connectionfor delivering the messages directly to the mobile device 800 in thisalternative implementation.

Messages intended for a user of the mobile device 800 are initiallyreceived by a message server 1168 of the host system 480. Such messagesmay originate from any number of sources. For instance, a message mayhave been sent by a sender from the computer 1162 b within the hostsystem 480, from a different mobile device (not shown) connected to thewireless network 850 or a different wireless network, or from adifferent computing device, or other device capable of sending messages,via the shared network infrastructure 1124, possibly through anapplication service provider (ASP) or Internet service provider (ISP),for example.

The message server 1168 typically acts as the primary interface for theexchange of messages, particularly e-mail messages, within theorganization and over the shared network infrastructure 1124. Each userin the organization that has been set up to send and receive messages istypically associated with a user account managed by the message server1168. Some exemplary implementations of the message server 1168 includea Microsoft Exchange™ server, a Lotus Domino™ server, a NovellGroupwise™ server, or another suitable mail server installed in acorporate environment. In some implementations, the host system 480 maycomprise multiple message servers 1168. The message server 1168 may alsobe adapted to provide additional functions beyond message management,including the management of data associated with calendars and tasklists, for example.

When messages are received by the message server 1168, they aretypically stored in a data store associated with the message server1168. In at least some embodiments, the data store may be a separatehardware unit, such as data store 1184, that the message server 1168communicates with. Messages can be subsequently retrieved and deliveredto users by accessing the message server 1168. For instance, an e-mailclient application operating on a user's computer 1162 a may request thee-mail messages associated with that user's account stored on the datastore associated with the message server 1168. These messages are thenretrieved from the data store and stored locally on the computer 1162 a.The data store associated with the message server 1168 can store copiesof each message that is locally stored on the mobile device 800.Alternatively, the data store associated with the message server 1168can store all of the messages for the user of the mobile device 800 andonly a smaller number of messages can be stored on the mobile device 800to conserve memory. For instance, the most recent messages (i.e., thosereceived in the past two to three months for example) can be stored onthe mobile device 800.

When operating the mobile device 800, the user may wish to have e-mailmessages retrieved for delivery to the mobile device 800. The messageapplication 838 operating on the mobile device 800 may also requestmessages associated with the user's account from the message server1168. The message application 838 may be configured (either by the useror by an administrator, possibly in accordance with an organization'sinformation technology (IT) policy) to make this request at thedirection of the user, at some pre-defined time interval, or upon theoccurrence of some pre-defined event. In some implementations, themobile device 800 is assigned its own e-mail address, and messagesaddressed specifically to the mobile device 800 are automaticallyredirected to the mobile device 800 as they are received by the messageserver 1168.

The message management server 1172 can be used to specifically providesupport for the management of messages, such as e-mail messages, thatare to be handled by mobile devices. Generally, while messages are stillstored on the message server 1168, the message management server 1172can be used to control when, if, and how messages are sent to the mobiledevice 800. The message management server 1172 also facilitates thehandling of messages composed on the mobile device 800, which are sentto the message server 1168 for subsequent delivery.

For example, the message management server 1172 may monitor the user's“mailbox” (e.g. the message store associated with the user's account onthe message server 1168) for new e-mail messages, and applyuser-definable filters to new messages to determine if and how themessages are relayed to the user's mobile device 800. The messagemanagement server 1172 may also compress and encrypt new messages (e.g.using an encryption technique such as Data Encryption Standard (DES),Triple DES, or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)) and push them to themobile device 800 via the shared network infrastructure 1124 and thewireless network 850. The message management server 1172 may alsoreceive messages composed on the mobile device 800 (e.g. encrypted usingTriple DES), decrypt and decompress the composed messages, re-format thecomposed messages if desired so that they will appear to have originatedfrom the user's computer 1162 a, and re-route the composed messages tothe message server 1168 for delivery.

Certain properties or restrictions associated with messages that are tobe sent from and/or received by the mobile device 800 can be defined(e.g. by an administrator in accordance with IT policy) and enforced bythe message management server 1172. These may include whether the mobiledevice 800 may receive encrypted and/or signed messages, minimumencryption key sizes, whether outgoing messages must be encrypted and/orsigned, and whether copies of all secure messages sent from the mobiledevice 800 are to be sent to a pre-defined copy address, for example.

The message management server 1172 may also be adapted to provide othercontrol functions, such as only pushing certain message information orpre-defined portions (e.g. “blocks”) of a message stored on the messageserver 1168 to the mobile device 800. For example, in some cases, when amessage is initially retrieved by the mobile device 800 from the messageserver 1168, the message management server 1172 may push only the firstpart of a message to the mobile device 800, with the part being of apre-defined size (e.g. 2 KB). The user can then request that more of themessage be delivered in similar-sized blocks by the message managementserver 1172 to the mobile device 800, possibly up to a maximumpre-defined message size. Accordingly, the message management server1172 facilitates better control over the type of data and the amount ofdata that is communicated to the mobile device 800, and can help tominimize potential waste of bandwidth or other resources.

The mobile data server 1174 encompasses any other server that storesinformation that is relevant to the corporation. The mobile data server1174 may include, but is not limited to, databases, online data documentrepositories, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, orenterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

The contact server 1176 can provide information for a list of contactsfor the user in a similar fashion as the address book on the mobiledevice 800. Accordingly, for a given contact, the contact server 1176can include the name, phone number, work address and e-mail address ofthe contact, among other information. The contact server 1176 can alsoprovide a global address list that contains the contact information forall of the contacts associated with the host system 480.

It will be understood by persons skilled in the art that the messagemanagement server 1172, the mobile data server 1174, the contact server1176, the device manager module 1178, the data store 1184 and the ITpolicy server 1186 do not need to be implemented on separate physicalservers within the host system 480. For example, some or all of thefunctions associated with the message management server 1172 may beintegrated with the message server 1168, or some other server in thehost system 480. Alternatively, the host system 840 may comprisemultiple message management servers 1172, particularly in variantimplementations where a large number of mobile devices need to besupported.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the IT policy server 1186 canprovide the IT policy editor 1180, the IT user property editor 1182 andthe data store 1184. In some cases, the IT policy server 1186 can alsoprovide the device manager module 1178. The processor 1188 can executethe editors 1180 and 1182. In some cases, the functionality of theeditors 1180 and 1182 can be provided by a single editor. In some cases,the memory unit 1192 can provide the data store 1184.

The device manager module 1178 provides an IT administrator with agraphical user interface with which the IT administrator interacts toconfigure various settings for the mobile devices 800. As mentioned, theIT administrator can use IT policy rules to define behaviors of certainapplications on the mobile device 800 that are permitted such as phone,web browser or Instant Messenger use. The IT policy rules can also beused to set specific values for configuration settings that anorganization requires on the mobile devices 800 such as auto signaturetext, WLAN/VoIP/VPN configuration, security requirements (e.g.encryption algorithms, password rules, etc.), specifying themes orapplications that are allowed to run on the mobile device 800, and thelike.

While preferred embodiments have been specifically described andillustrated herein, it should be apparent that many modifications to theembodiments can be made. For example, while the preferred embodimentsillustrated herein have been limited to the processing of voice (packetor circuit switched) calls, it should be readily apparent that any formof call (e.g., audio, video, data) may be processed through server 30 toany communication device (e.g., cellular phone, pager,office/residential landline telephone, computer terminal, personaldigital assistant (PDA), RIM device, etc.). The individual method stepsof the exemplary operational flows illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6D may beinterchanged in order, combined, replaced or even added. Any number ofdifferent operations not illustrated herein may be performed utilizingthe invention. Moreover, the method steps may be performed by hardware,software, firmware or any combinations of hardware, software, firmwareor logic elements.

In addition, while the illustrated embodiments have demonstratedimplementations using PBX-based communication systems, it should bereadily apparent that the server module may be connected (directly,indirectly, co-located, or remotely) with any other network switchingdevice or communication system used to process calls such as a centralswitching office, centrex system, or Internet server for telephone callsmade over the public switched telephone network, private telephonenetworks, or even Internet Protocol (IP) telephony networks made overthe Internet. It should be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe embodiments disclosed do not need a PBX to operate or to perform anyof the processing described above. All that is required is a properlyprogrammed server 30.

It should be apparent that, while only PRI lines (e.g., between PBX 14and server 30, between PBX 14 and PSTN 16) have been illustrated indiscussing the preferred embodiments, these communication lines (as wellas any other communication lines or media discussed herein) may be ofany form, format, or medium (e.g., PRI, T1, OC3, electrical, optical,wired, wireless, digital, analog, etc.). Moreover, although PSTN 16, 54are depicted as separate networks for illustration purposes, it shouldbe readily apparent that a single PSTN network alone may be used inpractice. It should be noted that the server 30 could trunk back to thePBX 14 instead of being directly connected to the PSTN 54. The use of acommercial wireless carrier network (represented by wireless switch 58and antenna 60) as described herein may be implemented using one or morecommercial carriers using the same or different signaling protocols(e.g., Sprint/Nextel, etc.) depending on the communication devicesregistered with the system.

The modules described herein such as the modules making up server 30, aswell as server 30 and PBX 14 themselves, may be one or more hardware,software, or hybrid components residing in (or distributed among) one ormore local or remote systems. It should be readily apparent that themodules may be combined (e.g., server 30 and PBX 14) or furtherseparated into a variety of different components, sharing differentresources (including processing units, memory, clock devices, softwareroutines, etc.) as required for the particular implementation of theembodiments disclosed herein. Indeed, even a single general purposecomputer executing a computer program stored on a recording medium toproduce the functionality and any other memory devices referred toherein may be utilized to implement the illustrated embodiments. Userinterface devices utilized by in or in conjunction with server 30 may beany device used to input and/or output information. The interfacedevices may be implemented as a graphical user interface (GUI)containing a display or the like, or may be a link to other userinput/output devices known in the art.

Furthermore, memory units employed by the system may be any one or moreof the known storage devices (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM), ReadOnly Memory (ROM), hard disk drive (HDD), floppy drive, zip drive,compact disk-ROM, DVD, bubble memory, etc.), and may also be one or morememory devices embedded within a CPU, or shared with one or more of theother components.

Specific embodiments and applications related to the above descriptioninclude, but are not limited to, a computer implemented method ofinitiating a conference. The method comprises the steps of inputting aconference request via a data message, where the request comprises atleast a scheduled time for the conference and inputting responses to therequest to determine conference participants. In addition, at thescheduled time, the method retrieves contact information for theconference participants and initiates at least one telephone call toeach conference participant based on each participant's contactinformation.

An additional embodiment provides a server computer comprising means forinputting a conference request via a data message, the requestcomprising at least a scheduled time for the conference and means forinputting responses to the request to determine conference participants.The server further comprises means for retrieving contact informationfor the conference participants at the scheduled time and means forinitiating at least one telephone call to each conference participantbased on each participant's contact information.

Yet another embodiment described above provides a client applicationprogram comprising instructions that when executed by a computer causesthe computer to perform a method of initiating a conference call. Themethod includes the steps of displaying a first scheduling option forrequesting a conference call and, in response to a selection of thefirst scheduling option, displaying a second scheduling option forsetting when the conference call will occur, selecting desiredparticipants of the conference call and setting the type of conferencecall. The second scheduling option includes a third scheduling optionfor scheduling the call. In response to a selection of the thirdscheduling option, a step of sending a data message comprising a starttime of the call, the type of call and a set of participants for thecall is performed.

As set forth above, a telecommunications system is also provided. Thesystem includes a computer readable storage medium having a databasecomprising a plurality of user profiles, each profile being associatedwith a respective telephone number of the system and a processorconnected to said storage medium. The processor is configured toinitiate a conference call by inputting a conference request via a datamessage, the request comprising at least a scheduled time for theconference and a type of conference and inputting responses to therequest to determine accepted conference participants.

Another embodiment provides another method of initiating a conference.The method includes the act of initiating a conference by inputting aconference request via a data message, where the request comprises ascheduled time for the conference and a type of conference. The methodalso includes the act of inputting responses to the request to determineaccepted conference participants.

Another embodiment disclosed above provides a client application programcomprising instructions that when executed by a computer causes thecomputer to perform a method of initiating a conference. The methodincludes the steps of displaying a calendar page on a display device anddisplaying an option for requesting a conference. When an input isreceived indicating that a conference has been requested, the methoddisplays a page for setting when the conference will occur, forselecting desired participants of the conference and for setting thetype of conference call. When a request to schedule the conference isinput, the method sends a data message to an external device, whereinthe message comprises a start time of the conference, the type ofconference and a set of participants for the conference.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:
 1. A computer implemented method of initiating aconference call via a server that assists with scheduling the conferencecall, said method comprising: receiving a conference request from aninviter's communication device, the request comprising conferencesettings including at least a scheduled time for the conference call;sending at least one invitation message based on the conference request;receiving responses to the at least one invitation message to determineconference participants; automatically synchronizing the conferencesettings and a personal conference group based on communication with theinviter's communication device, wherein the personal conference group iscreated by the inviter's communication device based on communicationbetween the inviter's communication device and the server, and whereinthe personal conference group is synchronized based on inviter's changeof the conference settings; and initiating at least one conference callto each conference participant based on each participant's contactinformation associated with the personal conference group.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the conference request is received via a datamessage, the data message being an email message generated by a calendarfunction of the email application of the inviter's communication device.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of connectingtogether calls to conference participants that have been answered toform the conference call.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining whether more than one call should be made to a respectiveconference participant; and if it is determined that more than one callshould be made to the respective conference participant, initiating morethan one telephone call to the respective conference participant basedon the respective participant's contact information.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining whether more than one callshould be made to a respective conference participant; and if it isdetermined that more than one call should be made to the respectiveconference participant, simultaneously initiating more than onetelephone call to the respective conference participant based on therespective participant's contact information.
 6. A computer implementedmethod of initiating a conference call via a user device that canparticipate on the conference call, said method comprising: displaying afirst scheduling option for requesting the conference call; in responseto a selection of the first scheduling option, displaying a secondscheduling option for setting when the conference call will occur andfor selecting desired participants of the conference call, said secondscheduling option comprising a third scheduling option for schedulingthe conference call; in response to a selection of the third schedulingoption, sending a conference request comprising conference settingsincluding a start time of the conference call and a set of participantsfor the conference call; and automatically synchronizing the conferencesettings and a personal conference group based on communication with aserver, wherein the personal conference group is created by the userdevice based on communication between the user device and the server,and wherein the personal conference group is synchronized based oninviter's change of the conference settings.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the conference request is received via a data message, the datamessage being generated by a calendar function of an email applicationof the user device.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the firstscheduling option is a menu option for setting an appointment on theemail application and the second scheduling option is a new conferenceappointment screen allowing a user to supply a date and time when theconference call will occur, set the type of conference call, and emailaddresses of desired participants of the conference call.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein the new conference appointment screen also containsan area for a text message associated with the conference call.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the type of conference call comprises a getme conference wherein the server initiates the conference by callingparticipants that have agreed to participate on the conference call. 11.The method of claim 7, wherein the personal conference group comprisesparticipants of the conference call and their respective contactinformation.
 12. A telecommunications system that assists withscheduling a conference call, the telecommunication system comprising: anon-transitory computer readable storage medium having a databasecomprising a plurality of user profiles, each user profile beingassociated with a respective telephone number of the system; and aprocessor connected to said storage medium and being configured toinitiate the conference call by: receiving a conference request from aninviter's communication device, the request comprising conferencesettings including at least a scheduled time for the conference and atype of conference, sending at least one invitation message based on theconference request, receiving responses to the at least one invitationmessage to determine accepted conference participants, and automaticallysynchronizing the conference settings and a personal conference groupbased on communication with the inviter's communication device, whereinthe personal conference group is created by the inviter's communicationdevice based on communication between the inviter's communication deviceand the server, and wherein the personal conference group issynchronized based on inviter's change of the conference settings. 13.The telecommunications system of claim 12, wherein said processor isfurther configured to: determine if the type of conference requires theprocessor to call accepted participants; and if it is determined thatthe type of conference requires the processor to call acceptedparticipants, at the scheduled time, said processor retrieves contactinformation for each accepted conference participant and initiates atleast one telephone call to each accepted conference participant basedon the accepted participant's respective contact information.
 14. Thetelecommunications system of claim 13, wherein the processor determineswhether more than one call should be made to an accepted conferenceparticipant, and if it is determined that more than one call should bemade to an accepted conference participant, the processor initiates morethan one telephone call to the accepted conference participant based onthe accepted conference participant's respective contact information.15. The telecommunications system of claim 12, wherein the personalconference group comprises participants of the conference call and theirrespective contact information.